I have to believe Trump planned on canning Sessions for months and moving his buddy Whitaker on to oversee Mueller but held back to see how the chips would fall for the mid-terms. Typical dick move to do it exactly one day after the election. Although I still think Dems don't have a chance of impeaching Trump before 2020 without the Senate on board, they now have more leverage to at least subpoena his taxes, etc probably making Trump a bit nervous so he made his move to get a tighter grip (and perhaps to squash it) on the Russia probe. It looks dirty as fuck, but I have to say it's like Trump is playing Three Dimensional Chess while his opponents are perpetually stuck on checkers.

Bad blood between Ricardel and Melania Trump and her staff continued for weeks after the trip, with the first lady privately arguing that the NSC’s No. 2 official was a corrosive influence in the White House and should be dismissed. But national security adviser John Bolton rebuffed the first lady and protected his deputy, prompting the first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, to issue an extraordinary statement to reporters Tuesday effectively calling for Ricardel’s firing.

“It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House,” Grisham said of Ricardel in the statement.
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After an uncomfortable day of limbo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Wednesday evening that Ricardel was leaving the White House.
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“Mira Ricardel will continue to support the President as she departs the White House to transition to a new role within the Administration,” she said in a statement.

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National security adviser John Bolton tapped Ricardel in April to serve as his deputy, hailing her “track record of successfully managing teams and diverse organizations, as well as addressing complex issues.” Ricardel had previously worked as an undersecretary of commerce and had also held positions at the State and Defense departments.

Yet Ricardel had frequently clashed with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis while leading President Trump’s transition, current and former officials told The Washington Post last month, and her reemergence at the White House prompted suspicion at the Pentagon that she was undermining Mattis.

Three current and two former White House officials said Tuesday that Ricardel had berated people in meetings, yelled at professional staff, argued with the first lady and spread rumors about Mattis.

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly has sought for months to oust Ricardel, calling her a problematic hire in the West Wing, and Mattis has told advisers that he wants her out as well, the officials said.

Asked late Tuesday afternoon whether he agreed with the first lady that Ricardel should leave her position, Mattis declined to comment.

In a meeting in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump further aggravated Mr. Kelly by suggesting that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top adviser, use his contacts in the Mexican government to try to resolve the caravan issue. “Let’s get Jared involved; he’s our best guy on this,” Mr. Trump said.

One reason: The White House has no one ready to nominate, and there are succession questions at Homeland Security. The administration has yet to replace Elaine Duke, who resigned as the deputy secretary in February. The third in line at DHS is Claire Grady, the undersecretary for Management. White House officials have told Mr. Trump she doesn’t have the leadership experience to take over DHS.
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One source of tension between Mr. Bolton and Ms. Nielsen stemmed from a plan she raised to deal with the migrant caravan heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Ms. Nielsen raised the possibility of asking the United Nations refugee agency to set up camps on the Mexico side of the border to house the migrants, said to people familiar with the talks.

Mr. Bolton pointedly dismissed the idea as unworkable and misguided, a response that irked Ms. Nielsen and triggered a forceful defense from Mr. Kelly, these people said. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Bolton what he thought would be a better approach, and Mr. Bolton said he would discuss it directly with the president, one of these people said.

Jared was instrumental in altering the axis of power in Saudi Arabia. It was he who brokered the massive military fire sale to them, lobbying for...and ultimately using bin Salman as the point, a really coveted sale that was coveted by a number of other nations. trump love grew that day. Though Bolton is total fuckwit, I long ago lost the idea that Kelly might be the grown up in the room.

WASHINGTON — John F. Kelly, the retired Marine general tapped as chief of staff by President Trump last year to bring order to his chaotic White House, will leave the job by the end of the year, Mr. Trump said on Saturday, the latest departure from the president’s inner circle after a bruising midterm election for his party.

Mr. Trump, speaking with reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, said that he would announce a replacement for Mr. Kelly — perhaps on an interim basis — in the next day or two.

“John Kelly will be leaving — I don’t know if I can say ‘retiring,’” Mr. Trump said. “But he’s a great guy. John Kelly will be leaving at the end of the year.”

The leading candidate to replace Mr. Kelly is Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s 36-year-old chief of staff and a Republican political operative, who possesses the kind of savvy about campaigns that Mr. Trump has craved. Mr. Kelly, a career military officer before becoming Mr. Trump’s first homeland security secretary, lacked such experience.
Mr. Kelly’s coming departure leaves Mr. Trump with an ever-shrinking team of close advisers as he begins to navigate the new power structure on Capitol Hill that will be ushered in next month when Democrats assume control of the House.

The chief of staff’s exit also adds another prominent name to the list of core advisers who have left after trying to manage the president through his nearly two years in office, often finding themselves shunned and sidelined for their efforts.

Although the president had made a display of saying that Mr. Kelly, 68, would stay through the 2020 re-election effort, the chief of staff was blunt with several people in the White House that he planned to make it only through the midterms.

Presidents typically make changes in staffing after midterm elections. During a wide-ranging news conference the day after the vote, the president deflected questions about the job security of Mr. Kelly and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general at the time. Mr. Sessions was forced out later in the day in a Twitter post.

“People leave,” Mr. Trump said at the time, adding that he had not heard anything about Mr. Kelly leaving.
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“It’s a very exhausting job — although I love doing it, I must tell you — but it’s exhausting for a lot of people,” Mr. Trump said. “I’m surprised that a lot of people, they start off, they’re young people. They’re there for two years, and they’re old by the time they leave.”

Mr. Kelly’s resignation had long been rumored, amid signs that he and Mr. Trump had grown irritated with each other. The president — as freewheeling as Mr. Kelly is methodical — privately fumed that he thought his chief was hiding things from him, and frequently upbraided him in the West Wing on matters large and small.

The chief of staff, who often said privately that he did not believe that Mr. Trump appreciated or understood his own job, had taken to telling colleagues “I don’t need this” after such criticism from the president.

Yet for months, the dysfunctional dynamic continued without a firing or a resignation.

Maddog's resignation was definitely more of a "fuck you" than Sessions was. He was the only cabinet member I respected and really the only one that seemed qualified for the cabinet position he was appointed.

By all accounts, Mr. Trump’s consumption of cable television has actually increased in recent months as his first scheduled meetings of the day have slid back from the 9 or 9:30 a.m. set by Reince Priebus, his first chief of staff, to roughly 11 many mornings. During “executive time,” Mr. Trump watches television in the residence for hours, reacting to what he sees on Fox News. While in the West Wing, he leaves it on during most meetings in the dining room off the Oval Office, one ear attuned to what is being said.

Maddog's resignation was definitely more of a "fuck you" than Sessions was. He was the only cabinet member I respected and really the only one that seemed qualified for the cabinet position he was appointed.

Today, Trump in his latest dick move "fired" Mattis two months earlier than his resignation date.

Maddog's resignation was definitely more of a "fuck you" than Sessions was. He was the only cabinet member I respected and really the only one that seemed qualified for the cabinet position he was appointed.

Today, Trump in his latest dick move "fired" Mattis two months earlier than his resignation date.

I doubt the Gen cares also me and some buddies (I will admit I half assed it all) made a record called Use Your Collusion I'm gonna see if I can share it